The Society warmly welcomes Members of the Society and visiting researchers to use the library.

Studying in the library

1. Consumption of food or drink is not permitted in the library and research room, please visit the Members' lounge for refreshments.   
2. After consulting material, please place items on the library trolley for staff and volunteers to reshelve them.  This enables us to monitor which items in the collections are being used and to check their condition. 
3. Journals, auction catalogues and other closed-access material will need to be retrieved by a member of staff.  To ensure you get the most out of your visit, it is advisable to request such items beforehand by telephoning 02074861044 or emailing research@rpsl.org.uk. 
4. Rare items and archives must be viewed in the research room.  Please contact us to make an appointment. 

Borrowing (Members only)

1. Only items from the Book Collection are available for loan.  Stamp Catalogues, Journals, Auction Catalogues and Restricted-Access material are all available for reference only. 
2. Members are permitted to borrow 3 books at a time for a period of up to 4 weeks.  Renewal may be possible if there is not a request for the item.   
3. To borrow a book, please take it to the library desk to be checked-out by a member of staff.  All library items are secured with RFID tags which have to be deactivated for the item to be removed from the building.
4. When returning an item please hand in to a member of staff at the library desk so they can discharge it from your record.     
5. The member borrowing a book is responsible for its safe custody until returned to the library.  In the event of loss or damage to the item the member will be required to provide a replacement or compensation as designated by Council. 
6. Members may borrow books by post (subject to postage costs). Unfortunately, this is currently only available to UK based members.     

Photocopying and Scanning

Under current UK Copyright legislation, photocopying or scanning from publications is permitted for personal research purposes as long as the amount is 'fair and justifiable'.  For guidance, 5% or one chapter of a book or one article from a journal issue would be considered reasonable. 

Please use the copyright declaration form attached here when requesting copies or scans of copyrighted material.